Ladbrokes, Coral Fined for Customer's £98,000 Loss

Written by:
Jagajeet Chiba
Published on:
Jul/31/2019

  • Ladbrokes parent company GVC would very much like to enter US regulated sports betting market

  • Prior controversial dealings have regulators concerned

  • Ladbrokes fined £5.9m for failing to protect vulnerable customers and proper management of money laundering measures

  • One customer loses £98,000 after begging Ladbrokes to stop sending promotions

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As Ladbrokes, Coral desperately work to get a piece of the US regulated betting action, parent company parent company GVC has had to deal with a few unwanted distractions.

Earlier this month, Gambling911.com reported on how GVC had been operating in a so-called 'black market", that being Turkey. 

GVC boss Kenny Alexander may not entirely have cut ties with his Turkish connections, as was reported by the Sunday Times.

Alexander is said to own a horse farm with an individual who received a chunk of GVC's Turkish business.  That man is one Ron Watts, for whom Alexander has long industry ties to through their employment at Sportingbet over a decade ago.

GVC acquired Sportingbet's Turkish operation in 2011 and it quickly accounted for nearly a third of the company's total revenue.

GVC and Ladbrokes may have overcome this obstacle in a bid to enter the US market, but now the firm is faced with yet another crisis that could prove the death knell for further entry into the States.

The owner of Ladbrokes Coral has been fined £5.9m for not protecting vulnerable customers and for failings in its anti-money laundering measures.

In one instance, a Ladbrokes customer had 460 attempted deposits into their gambling account declined. However, they were still able to lose £98,000 over two and a half years after begging the company to stop sending promotions.

The Gambling Commission said the problems occurred between November 2014 and October 2017, after which GVC Holdings bought Ladbrokes Coral in March 2018.

GVC Holdings will pay £4.8m and divest £1.1m "gained from customers as a result of its failings".


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According to the BBC, the commission also highlighted a Coral customer who spent £1.5m over nearly three years, during which time they logged onto their account an average 10 times a day for one month and lost £64,000 in one four week period.

Richard Watson, executive director of the Gambling Commission, said: "These were systemic failings at a large operator which resulted in consumers being harmed and stolen money flowing though the business and this is unacceptable."

GVC said it "acknowledges and regrets" that certain legacy systems and processes in place at Ladbrokes and Coral "did not adequately meet the regulatory requirements".

"These historical failings were unacceptable and since the acquisition, I have overseen a systematic review of the enlarged group's player protection procedures and the individuals responsible for these problems have exited the business," added GVC chief executive Kenneth Alexander.

"I am confident that we now have in place a robust and industry-leading approach to player protection."


GVC CEO Kenneth Alexander: "These historical failings were unacceptable"

Shares in GVC Holdings were not affected by the news as they rose 0.59% to 611.37p.

- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com

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